by L. L. Mintie
Shara scanned the Bip pool. “They must’ve used the food chute. Tsk, tsk—I need to lock that next time. Our guest in the Quarantine Room might like to have some friends to play with.”
A startled look crossed his face.
“Did they see it?” he hissed vehemently, eyes stretching to mere slits.
“I believe so, Mo’tak,” Shara pouted. “The clone grows exponentially, you know.”
He glared angrily toward the cave exit. “I think it’s time to deal with those snooping brats.”
Shara turned hungry eyes onto him.
“Gladly,” she said in ferocious delight.
Lee’s eyes rapidly ignited into a yellow glow; streaks of black flashed across his skin. The greasy mop on his head shriveled into his skull as limbs shrank away. A coiled and slimy beast launched into the water mid-transformation, followed by Shara, who burst forth her dorsal fin and jaws of sharp teeth at the same moment. They both swam with torpedo speed toward Otter Island, dark plans dancing around in their twisted minds.
Meanwhile, back at Bubba’s …
Captain Quinn was hunched over a steaming bowl of clam chowder, minding his own business, when Crazy Bill slid into the seat across from him. With frenzied eyes and foaming lips, he repeated one word over and over:
“Jello.”
Chapter 14
DREAMING PITS
“Wahoo! This flippin’ fish has sweet moves!” yelped Kai.
The Bip whipped and bobbed its way around trenches and coral reefs, sunken ships and whale pods, rapidly approaching the rocky shores of Otter Island. And while Kai was having the time of her life, Jeff frantically pushed every lever and button he could find to get this wild ride to stop.
“Urgh—I can’t manual override! We’ll just have to deal with whatever we run into when this thing finally docks,” he said, stomach flapping anxiously.
They rose to the surface and cruised parallel to the island along a sheer rock cliff for several eternal minutes, giving them ample time to survey the perimeter for anything out of the ordinary. Lizzy was busy watching satellite images flash across the computer screen in front of her.
“From what I can see, the biggest island is about ten miles across with several smaller lava-formed islands surrounding it.”
A nagging thought took hold of Kai and now seemed like a good time to ask Lizzy about it—they were stuck in this fish-sub, after all.
She tapped on Lizzy’s shoulder.
“What did you mean back at the vending machine when you said the name ‘Moonfin’? Is that an important word we should know about?”
“That’s her name—the sea monster trapped here that Xili and Iddo told me about,” Lizzy answered offhandedly.
Kai froze in place. Jeff’s mouth dropped open.
“WHAT! I think you left out the part about a trapped sea monster when you dragged us out here!” Kai plastered her face against the Plexiglas fish-eye, looking madly about.
“Don’t tell me we’re going to run into that out here in this dinky sub! No, no, no, nooo!” Jeff whimpered. “You could have mentioned she was being kept out here.” The blood drained from his face, and his knees went weak at the thought of being swallowed by the bigger version of the rotating-teeth-monster from the Quarantine Room.
“Hhaaa, didn’t I mention that part?” said Lizzy contritely. Keeping straight all that Xili said about the Waterlands and the Drylands was difficult. “Don’t worry, if we do run into her, we’ll … I don’t know! We can spew oil or something. You can relax—I don’t want to face her anymore than you do.” And she meant it.
Jeff and Kai stared at her accusingly.
“Besides, I’m not sure if it’s Otter Island or one of the other six islands she’s trapped under,” she said unconvincingly.
Jeff turned fuming, angry eyes on her and seethed, “I thought we were doing simple recon—a little jaunt to check on Krell—back to the mainland in a few hours. Easy-peasy, you said!”
“Yeah, what else haven’t you told us?” snapped Kai.
Good question.
“Uhhh, I think that’s everything.” And a big one that was. She was dumbstruck. How could she have forgotten?
“I wasn’t thinking about Moonfin at all—honest. I only wanted to do what I said before: look for my brother and his crew and check on Krell … sorry,” she said quietly, meaning it. Her words seemed to convince them, a little, and they softened up a bit.
“No harm done … I guess,” said Jeff more calmly. “We’ll just stick to our plan and get back to the mainland tonight before anybody notices us missing.”
A suffocating silence followed as they thought about being at the mercy of this triggerfish-sub that crept along the black cliffside through seaweed and slosh. Alert and on edge, they kept their eyes and ears open for any sudden movement.
Kai began to breathe easier when the Bip finally turned toward an inlet, leaving the open ocean behind. “Who owns this place, anyway?” She poked her head into the glass eye as far as she could, quickly adding, “And don’t tell me it’s the Pinkertons.”
“Nope. As far as I know, we don’t own any islands. I’ll have to talk to my grandfather about that—it’d be pretty cool to own a whole island. Think of the tourism potential.”
Lizzy cast her gaze along the rocks, wondering if any remnant of her brother’s boat might be found along its edges. While passing sunken ships on the way she noted the names on the hulls, none of which read “Sundancer.”
She swiveled around in her chair and faced Kai. “My dad told me about the island a long time ago. He said it was set aside as a sea otter preserve when their species was threatened, and always thought it would fail because of the otters’ instinct to explore—that they would eventually leave the island for the mainland.”
“Did they?”
“Yep, mostly, there’s still a few left. The otters like to sunbathe around the inner islands closer to shore.”
“I think I read an article about it in the Blowing Prawn Tribune once,” said Jeff. “The island used to be called ‘Solana.’ Otter Island isn’t the true name; they only started calling it that after the otters came to live there.”
“Yeah, the smaller islands had names like Solana’s Spoon and Solana’s Goat because of their funny shapes,” said Lizzy.
“My grandfather still calls the one on the southern tip Solana’s Bell—says that’s the name from his childhood and he’s sticking with it. After the island had been ditched by the otters, a wealthy philanthropist bequeathed it to the marine lab for research under Dr. Krell, as long as it remained an animal sanctuary. It’s been a mystery ever since.”
The Bip turned into a small cove carved out by a forty foot waterfall and headed straight for the cascading water.
“I don’t see anywhere to dock. There isn’t even a beach!” said Jeff, panicking.
The Bip sped up.
“Hold on, looks like we’re going in!” shouted Lizzy.
They puttered under a heavy curtain of falling water and broke through the other side into a subterranean waterway, winding through narrow rock, the Bip barely fitting into its egress. Sunless and dank, except for a few lanterns scattered several yards apart, they crawled blindly along through twists and turns, traveling deep within the heart of the island.
Half an hour later, light broke out around their sub as they arrived at an inland lake. A quick jolt brought them to a sudden stop; the Bip parked right next to an empty dock, as it had undoubtedly done so hundreds of times. Lizzy thought the Bip must be preprogrammed for several routes around the island, this one being its main route from the lab.
The hatch clicked open to the blinding light of day, flooding their compartment and stinging their eyes (for it was quite easy to forget about the sun while being transported by fish in the dark under-realms of the sea). Springing out of the floating fish-trap, they jumped onto the warm dock and took a moment to soak in their new surroundings.
Lizzy immediately noticed the pool
lapped against a small beach, and was surrounded by a tall bluff covered in lush green plants and flowering vines overhead. A second waterfall spilled into the glistening water to their left, and a wooden staircase zigzagged from the sand below to the forest above on their right. Luckily, they were all alone—Krell’s lab grunts must have had the day off.
Kai leaned down and scooped up a lotus flower from the water and held it gently in the palm of her hand—“Paradise,” she breathed.
“I wonder how Krell kept this place a secret for so long. I could put a hotel right there,” said Jeff, pointing up at the precipice. “And think how much money tourists would pay for a ride in one of those Bips! This place is a gold mine.”
“Do you Pinkertons ever stop thinking about money?”
“No, not really.”
“Ugh—smell that?” asked Lizzy, wrinkling her nose. “It stinks like rotten eggs. The pool is bubbling and gurgling in spots. It must be a hot magma zone.”
Kai cupped some water and sniffed at it. “There’s sulfur in the water. But the lotus flower—”
“You’re right—something’s off—the Lotus doesn’t grow in sulfur pools. And whew!—this is hardcore heat,” said Kai, wiping her brow. “This island doesn’t even have the same climate as the mainland. It feels like a sauna here.”
“A hot springs resort is even better!” Jeff silently calculated profits while pulling their gear from the sub.
Lizzy, Jeff, and Kai strapped on their packs and shuffled up the staircase, trekking down a sandy path into a dense, shadowy forest. It was mesmerizing, and the three children thought they had found an enchanted place.
Lizzy marveled at the bizarre plants and animals they saw, many having strange features, almost primordial, as if from exotic and untamed lands. She found a square rock along the path and picked it up, except it turned out to be an egg and broke in her hand.
“I’ve never seen anything like this around Blowing Prawn! Maybe Dr. Krell had it all brought over from another country, like Africa or somewhere.”
Jeff was wondering something else at the moment and said, “I don’t understand how Krell is connected to this place and that terrifying beast we saw in the Quarantine Room back at the lab.”
“Xili explained it to me a little,” said Lizzy. “Moonfin is the only one of her kind, and Dr. Krell is trying to make another—or even more than one, as I said before. The creature, the one you saw in that room, is a clone of her. A copy.”
“But why? What would he possibly do with more than one?”
“The Waterpeople think he wants to create an efficient destroyer, one that kills without mercy or remorse,” she said, a small shiver running down her spine. “They’re not sure what his plans are beyond that.”
“Yeah, except all the ones in the tanks that we saw looked like they died, apart from the one that glared its creepy eyes at us,” said Kai
Lizzy lifted a hand to her heart. “I could feel it, the coldness. If there are many of those in the sea, I’m afraid to think what would happen to the dolphins and seals and … and people. What about the people who fish there, and all the food we eat?”
She stopped and gave them both a pleading look.
“The Waterpeople have asked me to find and set her free … and I’m not sure how—or even if I can do it.”
Kai suddenly understood and said in a stunned voice, “And what about surfing? The ocean could become too dangerous to swim in!” The thought of never being able to do spins or aerials made her angry. Her mind did a flip-flop and she was decidedly for finding this Moonfin now. “Well, I’m in. Let’s stop this psychopath if we can,” she said with new resolve.
Jeff even agreed when he realized what it would mean for his family’s seafood restaurant business if the bay swarmed with prehistoric sea monsters. He wasn’t going to go looking for her, but when push came to shove, he’d have to protect his family’s investments.
They fell silent, quietly pondering the consequences while treading down a worn path through thick foliage, not sure of where they were going or what they were looking for. The sun started to descend into the sea, and the forest turned into murky darkness.
“Night is coming and it can’t be more than three o’clock,” said Lizzy, puzzled.
Kai looked up at the sky. “Maybe the island has its own light source, like in a snow globe … or maybe time moves faster here.” She was joking, of course, but Lizzy thought there might be some truth to what she was saying.
“Whatever the reason, we definitely arrived here with the sun directly above us, and we’ve been on this path for only an hour.”
“We should head to the beach and make a fire,” suggested Jeff. “I learned how to make a palm branch shelter in survival class. We can hunker down for the night and—”
SWOOOOSH!
In the blink of an eye, and before Kai could say “Flying cheese balls!,” the ground beneath them gave way, and down Lizzy, Jeff, and Kai tumbled, into something very deep and very dark. Jeff thought it a cistern or a mine shaft at first, and reminded Kai of the time she got caught in a muddy riptide. But the only word that came into Lizzy’s head was pit.
Indeed, the pit was so slimy and slippery, it carried them screaming and flailing wildly about at lightning speed ever downward. Spinning around on their backs and bellies, they tried very hard to grasp a root, or a rock, or anything to stop their speedy descent, but only wet, squishy sludge wiggled out through their fingers. It was like trying to grab hold of raw eggs. Then sploot!—all three came to a splashing halt at the bottom of a pool of gunk.
A chaotic chorus of eeewwws and blechs sung out. They scrambled clumsily to their feet—for the slime came up to their knees, gluing them in place—and shook their hands fiercely about, as a cat would do if it found a sheet of flypaper stuck to its paw, trying to remove what appeared to be purple goo that clung to their skin and clothes. But it was no use. The more they tried to fling it off their skin, the more it seemed to stick and crawl into their very pores.
Kai grabbed a handful of purply slime off her shoulder. “Yuck! What is this? It looks like—”
“Jello,” finished Lizzy, swiping a glop out of her curls. Food was always getting stuck in her hair, there was no escaping it.
“I was going to say gorilla snot, but that works too.”
Jeff, who was usually fascinated by the grosser things in life, was not at all happy to be covered in jello or snot.
“Look!—there are big chunks of it all along the wall—that’s why it was so hard to hold onto anything. We won’t be able to climb out of this!”
Lizzy took a handful of the wiggly stuff and held it up for a closer look. “Well, it is fascinating,” she said, starting to feel woozy, the glop sparkling and glowing in her palm. “Be a great jello-explosive in my lab back home …”
All three started to feel their minds mucking up a bit, like the sticky goo had seeped into their brains and bogged down the works.
Reaching through the ooze and running her fingers along the circular wall, Lizzy searched for something to latch onto, but nothing but slippery slime covered her arms up to her elbows. Their predicament became more desperate as night approached and only a small glimmer of light spilled in from the speck of a hole far above their heads.
“I’m feeling so tired—think I’ll sit down a while,” said Kai, her head and limbs tottering about like they were made of stone.
Jeff slid to the floor. “Me too, I c-can’t seem to …” He reached out a hand and swiped the empty air, grabbing at something only he could see.
Lizzy could feel something too, but wasn’t muddled enough to stop searching for a way out. She heard whispers above and leaves crackling under someone’s feet.
“Ho there! Is anyone up there?” she shouted through the tiny opening.
A quiet murmur hung on the air, more crackling of leaves, quick breaths…. Then—
“Hello, Lizzy,” said someone crisply.
She knew that voice.
&
nbsp; “Lee tells me you’ve been quite a busy girl lately,” said the woman in a sing-songy tone.
Lizzy gripped the wall and frantically called out, “Please—please help us! We fell, and now we’re stuck in here!”
“Oh, I doubt you’ll want to come out in a few moments. Now the pit will undoubtedly affect your human friends quite easily, but for you, it might take a little more time,” she said tartly.
Lizzy laid a hand against her pocket—the picture folded there held a mystery she couldn’t explain. How could that person now speaking to her from above be in a photograph taken over one hundred years ago?
“Mrs. Gates … how could you … you’re a teacher.”
She was beginning to think they might be doomed.
Mrs. Gates peered down at her, a cruel smile stretched across her face. Lizzy could see the outline of a little hair bun and cat-eye glasses hovering in the fading light.
“And what exactly did you expect to accomplish here? You should have stayed on the mainland. Tsk, tsk! Taking the Bip wasn’t wise at all—who will ever know you’ve come here? We’ll quietly take care of you and your annoying friends once and for all. Omebus will never have to know.”
Omebus, Lizzy thought humorously. Dr. Krell’s first name. She’d indulge in a giggle if she weren’t stuck in a pit surrounded by purple goo and her last hope a demented science teacher.
“You wouldn’t just leave us here, would you, Mrs. Gates?” Lizzy moaned.
“Wouldn’t I, now? There might be a use for you. Not that I succeeded with your interfering brother.” She leaned over the opening and studied Lizzy like an animal trapped in a cage.
“At first he wanted to help us, you know … but he turned,” she said in a bitter tone.
“Brandon? What … what do you know about him?” Lizzy could feel her mind slipping away—the purple slime must be having some insidious effect on them all. She tried to keep her thoughts lucid … to get answers from this awful woman whom she thought was a kindly middle school teacher.